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World Governments Summit starts Tuesday with biggest billing in 12-year history

World Governments Summit starts Tuesday with biggest billing in 12-year history
This year’s summit is billed to be the best attended. (INTERNET/WGS)
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Updated 10 February 2025

World Governments Summit starts Tuesday with biggest billing in 12-year history

World Governments Summit starts Tuesday with biggest billing in 12-year history
  • This year’s summit will explore global transformations, focusing on opportunities and challenges across various sectors and key issues

DUBAI: The World Governments Summit has unveiled the theme of “Shaping Future Governments” for its 12th annual event held in Dubai from Feb. 11 to Feb. 13, state news agency WAM reported.

This year’s summit will explore global transformations, focusing on opportunities and challenges across various sectors and key issues.

The summit aims to foster the development of shared strategies and visions for enhanced global government performance and stronger international cooperation.

With more than 30 heads of states and government, delegations from 140 governments and representatives from more than 80 global institutions, this year’s summit anticipates record participation.

Attendance looks set to increase by over 50 percent compared to last year, representing the largest gathering in the Summit’s history, with delegates from every continent and a wide range of sectors.

Heads of state, including President of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto, President of Poland  Andrzej Duda, and President of Sri Lanka Kumara Dissanayake, will deliver keynote speeches.

Other speakers billed for the summit include Elon Musk, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, and Sir Tony Blair, former prime minister of the UK.

Mohammad Al-Gergawi, UAE minister of Cabinet affairs and chairman of the World Governments Summit, said that the event continued to provide exceptional support in empowering governments worldwide to navigate rapid transformations and evolving challenges across various sectors.

“The summit is committed to being the premier global platform to anticipate and explore the future, developing innovative solutions and forging international partnerships to benefit all communities based on scientifically and realistically grounded insights,” he added.

The summit’s final day will host the Climate Change Forum, the World Health Forum, and the World Government Law Making Forum.


Syria to help US fight Iran-backed armed groups, envoy says

Syria to help US fight Iran-backed armed groups, envoy says
Updated 6 sec ago

Syria to help US fight Iran-backed armed groups, envoy says

Syria to help US fight Iran-backed armed groups, envoy says
DAMASCUS: Syria will play an active role in assisting the United States in fighting armed groups including Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Hamas and Hezbollah, US special envoy Tom Barrack said on Thursday.
Interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, himself a former jihadist, became the first Syrian leader to visit the White House since his country’s independence in 1946.
Shortly after his visit, the US-led coalition fighting the Daesh group (IS) announced that Syria had become its 90th member.
On Thursday, Barrack wrote on X that “Damascus will now actively assist us in confronting and dismantling the remnants of Daesh, the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps), Hamas, Hizballah, and other terrorist networks.”
Iran’s powerful IRGC and Lebanon’s Hezbollah were key backers of president Bashar Assad before he was ousted last december by a rebel coalition led by Sharaa.
Hamas does not have an armed presence in Syria.
Barrack also said he held a “pivotal” meeting with US top diplomat Marco Rubio, Turkiye’s Hakan Fidan and Syria’s Asaad Al-Shaibani, during which they discussed steps toward “integrating the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) into the new Syrian economic, defense and civic structure.”
Backed by Washington, the Kurdish-led SDF played a key role in unseating IS from its last strongholds in Syria.
SDF leader Mazloum Abdi told AFP last month that he had reached a “preliminary agreement” with Damascus on the integration of his troops into Syria’s military and security forces.
In a post on X on Tuesday, Abdi said he had discussed with Barrack “our commitment to accelerate the integration of the SDF into the Syrian state.”
Sharaa’s administration and the SDF had signed an agreement in March to integrate into national civilian and military institutions, but it has faced hurdles since.